Age of Apps Begins: We Spend Half Our Digital Time in Apps

The time we spend on mobile devices is — officially — higher than it has ever been before. In May, the total time we spent in mobile apps surpassed the time we spent on any other digital media. That’s according to ComScore‘s recent report on “major mobile milestones” — milestones which include mobile platforms (smartphones and tablets) — combined to account for 60 percent of the total time spent on digital media in May, mobile apps accounted for a full 51 percent of all digital media time spent.

Those numbers represent rapid growth, as last year, mobile platforms commanded about 50 percent of the time that users spent on digital media — up to 60 percent this year. The figures also highlight just how pervasive mobile tools and apps are in our daily routines. The apps that have risen to popularity have seen entire categories of activities shifting almost exclusively to mobile engagement. ComScore divides digital media into a number of categories — radio, photos, maps, instant messengers, games, telecommunications, downloads, entertainment – music, social networking, and directories/resources — to measure how much of the category’s engagement is on mobile platforms, and how much through desktop.

According to the report, the bulk of the activity in some categories of digital media has shifted almost completely to mobile platforms, away from the desktop platforms where the categories originated. As an example, digital radio, led by services like Pandora (NYSE:P), Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iTunes Radio, Slacker, and Spotify, generates 96 percent of its total engagement via mobile.

Companies like Instagram and Flickr saw the photos category generating 96 percent of its activity from mobile platforms as well. Engagement in the maps category was 90 percent mobile, as was the activity in the instant messaging category, led by Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber, and others.

ComScore reports that the social networking category is undergoing a transition. In May, 71 percent of the category’s activity was mobile. The category represents 20 percent of digital time spent, and Facebook, one of the biggest players in the category, accounts for a full 24 percent of all mobile time spent. ComScore states that social networking is the single “most important” category of activity in the shift to mobile from desktop engagement. Mobile social networking activity is up 55 percent over the past year, and is also responsible for a 31 percent increase in total internet engagement over the past year.